New Year's Eve
by poeticgrace
Summary: A lot can happen in a week. ONE SHOT.


_Billy Mack & Joe_

There was no booze, no porn, no scandal. It was a simple Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. Joe figures that the tabloids would be disappointed if they knew the real Billy, the one behind all the false bravado, catchy pop melodies and shameless self-promotion. But Joe far prefers this version of the former superstar, the one who doesn't mind that the homemade fruit cake is a little on the dry side after Joe mismeasured the evaporated milk. A soft prayer and a toast with spiced cider is about as reckless as they get that night, but the manager promises Billy that they will have a little fun soon. New Year's Eve is just a few days away.

_Peter, Juliet & Mark_

She will never know what possessed him to show up with those silly cue cards, but as her heels click on the old stone street, she is glad that he did. She never saw Mark before, and she was pretty sure that he never saw her. And yet, as she presses her lips to his, she knows that he has always seen her. If only she had open her eyes up wide enough, she would have seen him staring right at her. It's a crazy thing, to feel that beautiful under the watchful gaze of someone who was not her husband. She only feels a little bit guilty later that night when she hopes that it will be Mark, and not Peter, who kisses her when the clock strikes midnight to start the New Year.

_Jamie & Aurelia_

For a straight-A student and professional writer like Jamie, language had never been a problem before. He had always spoken and written perfect English, or at least good enough to get him noticed by some of the top critics in Britian. However, Aurelia provides the perfect challenge for him to want to learn more, to be more. His Portugese is clipped at best and her English could use a little more work, but he knows enough to profess his love and ask for her hand in marriage and wish her Merry Christmas before most of her hometown. A New Years wedding has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

_Karen, Harry & Mia_

It's hard watching him with her, and Mia knows that it's wrong. That's his wife, the mother of his children, the woman he chose to spend the rest of his life with all those years ago. She knows all this and yet the necklace around her neck tells her otherwise. It was a gift, his gift, this token picked out specifically with her in mind. Karen is pretty for someone her age, but she is no match for Mia's undeniable youth and beauty. But at the end of the night, Mia goes home alone, and Harry takes Karen home to their perfect cottage to spend Christmas night with their kids. She can only imagine the family bonding that will happen on New Year's Eve while she is home by herself.

_Natalie & David_

Being Prime Minister has its perks, and his current favorite one is kissing the beautiful brunette beneath the mistletoe in his very lavish office. With her soft lines and bright eyes, Natalie is everything he has been looking for without ever knowing he was searching. He imagines their children and feels silly to think such things so soon. He has only known her for a handful of days but feels confident that she knows him better than anyone has ever known him before. It'll be months before he is comfortable enough to acknowledge her as his girlfriend in public, but that doesn't stop him from holding her hand in the car on the way to New Year's Eve services at the Church. There is so much in store for next year.

_Daniel, Sam & Joanna_

Daniel calculates the time between London and America before handing over the phone to an eager Sam. He curls up in the chair in the corner, looking so much – _too much_ – like his mother, and Daniel misses his wife all over again. He can hear her favorite song playing in his head and knows that she is there with them, their first Christmas without her. He can still remember starting off the year with her and Sam in this very living room, with a huge bowl of popcorn and stack of old movies. This year has been hard on both of them, but both Daniel and Sam have hope for the New Year ahead.

_Sarah, Karl & Michael_

Michael is part of the deal, Sarah explains to Karl a few days after their disasterous interlude. It takes awhile for her to devulge all the details, but he finally assures her that he understands and agrees to try again. When the call comes in the middle of their date a couple nights before New Years, Karl proposes a plan that makes her entire being light up. And that's how they find themselves at the facility on December 31, playing Monopoly and listening to old pop songs from the 80s on Radio 1. Michael hugs Sarah tightly when the grandfather clock strikes the hour and then turns to Karl for a hug of his own. Karl pretends not to notice when Sarah tears up a little.

_John & Judy_

John laughs readily after they arrive home on Christmas Eve when she is finally able to give him his gift. They had gotten caught up in the wedding and forgotten about the rest of the perfectly wrapped presents stashed beneath the tree. He is happily pleased to find a DVD copy of the film where they met as body doubles, surely not the best story to share with their future children about their courtship. Later on, they watch the movie in bed and scrutinize their performances, her less than thrilled about the strange wrinkle in the middle of her back and him wishing that he had time to get a little more tone in his arms. That's when they make their New Year's Resolutions to get fit for the wedding. And then John reaches across his fiancee for another bottle of beer and decides to enjoy the decadence while it lasts.

_Colin & the Girls_

Colin decides that he hates London and loves Wisconsin when the girls come to visit. Everyone has his accent here, and that doesn't make him quite as adorable, quite as loveable, quite as special. Stacey meets Tony and decides that she likes him better, while Jeannie and Carole-Anne take up with a pair of blokes they meet in the airport bar. Still, when Harriet finally allows to kiss her on New Years Eve, Colin decides that maybe London isn't so bad after all. There's just something about brunettes to put everything into perspective for a man.


End file.
